Regular verbal complaints are pouring in by the disenchanted passengers and inhabitants of Pauri Garhwal district about one bus service on the route of Pauri township to Delhi out of two has been discontinued since the last eight months and the bus service from Delhi to Srinagar, Garhwal has been restricted to Pauri only thus compelling the passengers to hire another bus from Pauri to Srinagar separately.
Kindly recall that earlier there were two bus services from Pauri township, Garhwal to Delhi at 8.30 AM and another at 9.30 AM daily.
But unfortunately since the last eight months one bus service has been discontinued leading to commuters / passengers to Delhi suffering tremendously.
There had been several verbal complaints in this regard but it has gone on the deaf ears of the officials of transportation authorities of Kotdwar, Pairing Garhwal, Uttarakhand.
Apart from this problem, the condition of Kotdwar bus depot which is too squeezed n dirty with limited space for the movement of buses and passengers with unhygienic n dilapidated toilets has not been renovated or shifted to new location despite the hard fact that Rs three crores have already been sanctioned for its renovation.
The Kotdwar, Garhwal bazaar is already extremely crowded n squeezed with Railway station n bus depot having lots of local shops n unauthorised stalls squeezing the already crowded squeezed roads due to movement of buses, cars, tempos, two wheelers n even other mode of heavy vehicles.
This is really worrisome that despite Uttarakhand becoming a separate state twenty two years ago, the condition of Kotdwar bus depot is in real mess leading to tremendous inconvenience to the passengers, the local populace and the tourists.
Will the chief minister Pushing Singh Shame take cognisance of these grievances and resolve them at the earliest? ask the inhabitants of Kotdwar.
Is this the way the double engine government works ask the annoyed and disenchanted passengers and residents of Kotdwar.
Meanwhile, according to Rajendra Prasad, an enlightened senior citizen and social activist the matter of the upgradation / renovation of the Kotdwar Motor bus depot due to the dispute between the city administration and the contractor has now been left at the mercy of the local court where it is currently lying pending leading to the delay.
The traffic situation in Kotdwar in view of heavy movement of buses, tempos, cars, two wheelers n even trucks etc and pedestrians has almost come to stand still with the traffic during peak hours moving at a snail’s pace.
The contractor has gone to court after completing merely 15% work leaving the transport depot authorities in doldrum.
It is still a suspense as to why the present government or political leaders not initiating any action against the former mayor, or Nagar Palika chief n concerned chief or other senior engineers involved in this work n during whose tenure the tender was passed.
According to Rajendra Prasad the matter is in court of law n everyone knows, about the delay cases in courts, usually take. Now it is for sure that since this case has become subjudice nothing can be done in this regard. This is the efficiency of the double engine sarkaar.
Suwarn Rawat
The upgradation & renovation of the bus depot is essential for the comfort of passengers shunting between Srinagar- Kotdwar to Delhi-‘to & from.’